{"id":23467,"date":"2018-12-15T13:44:31","date_gmt":"2018-12-15T13:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/?p=23467"},"modified":"2018-12-15T13:44:31","modified_gmt":"2018-12-15T13:44:31","slug":"commuter-diaries-seeing-detroit-through-the-bus-window","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/commuter-diaries-seeing-detroit-through-the-bus-window\/","title":{"rendered":"Commuter Diaries: Seeing Detroit through the Bus Window"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-23469 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/IMG_0714-169x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"169\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/IMG_0714-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/IMG_0714-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/IMG_0714.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Every morning I try to leave my kitchen at 8:43. By the time my scarf is secured around my neck, my bag is over my shoulder and the front door is locked behind me, it\u2019s 8:47. It takes about 90 seconds to walk through the alley to the bus stop, giving me just enough time to get my bus pass out of my wallet so I can be ready for my 8:51 pick up.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>My office offers employees an option between a monthly parking pass or bus pass, and after a week of timed trials and experimentation, I decided to opt for the bus pass. I determined that the sacrifice in morning flexibility would be worth the money I could save on gas.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>(I recognize that there is real privilege in this choice; mobility is a privilege, and I am lucky to have options for my commute.)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>More than reducing my gas budget, taking the bus has given me a new way to see Detroit. I have a chance to look out the window and notice the sorts of details in my surroundings that would otherwise be lost in the fog of traffic induced impatience.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more, my commute has given me a new lens to reflect on the legacy of segregation and suburbanization in our metro region.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-23468 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/IMG_0728-169x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"169\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/IMG_0728-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/IMG_0728.jpg 540w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Standing and waiting for the bus in the morning, it\u2019s hard to ignore the way decades of white flight and suburbanization manifest themselves in the heavy one-way traffic of (mostly white) commuters on Jefferson in the morning coming in from the suburbs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s just as hard to ignore that I am often the only white passenger on my bus\u2014the conspicuousness of my whiteness forces me to think hard about where I can and ought to fit into the city.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m grateful for my commute because it\u2019s given me another lens to see the city and its complex history. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s given me any answers, but I do think that I\u2019m asking better questions than I was before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every morning I try to leave my kitchen at 8:43. By the time my scarf is secured around my neck, my bag is over my shoulder and the front door is locked behind me, it\u2019s 8:47. It takes about 90 seconds to walk through the alley to the bus stop, giving me just enough time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":310,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}